A development company has quietly filed plans to build a large
underwater tidal hydroelectric farm with up to 150 submerged propeller
units between Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands in
Vineyard Sound.

The company has applied for a preliminary permit from the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission to build the experimental underwater energy
farm between the southwestern corner of Naushon Island, Nobska Point in
Falmouth and an area west of Lake Tashmoo in Vineyard Haven.

Notice of the permit application was recently published in the
Vineyard Gazette. A copy of the application is available at the energy
commission's web site, www.ferc.gov. The tidal energy farm is
listed as Project 12670.

The application states that each propeller unit, described in the
filing as a tidal in-stream energy conversion device, will generate from
500 kilowatts to 2 megawatts through harnessing tidal flow through the
sound. The company claims each device can provide power to about 750
homes.

The devices, whose rotating propellers would range in diameter from
20 to 50 feet, would be anchored to the sea bottom in navigable waters
between 40 and 75 feet.

The company wants to place the devices in two areas on either side
of Lucas Shoal and Middle Ground. The tidal farm area would extend to an
existing underwater cable crossing between Vineyard Haven and Falmouth.

Based on figures included in the filing, the built-out tidal farm
could generate between 25 and 300 megawatts at any given moment.

That puts the potential generation capacity of the farm at about
two-thirds of the estimated maximum output of the 130-turbine wind farm
proposed for Horseshore Shoal in Nantucket Sound. Cape Wind Associates,
the development company that has proposed the project, estimates its
maximum output at about 450 megawatts.

Cape Wind has identified the average combined power demand of
Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and Cape Cod at 230 megawatts.

Little information is available about Massachusetts Tidal Energy Co.
In its permit application, the company lists its agents as Joseph A.
Cannon of the Washington law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
LLP, and Charles B. Cooper, director of environmental permitting and
planning at TRC Environmental Corp. in Lowell.

Neither Mr. Cannon nor Mr. Cooper could be reached for comment
yesterday. A telephone message left at the company's listed
telephone number was not returned.

Cape Wind, which proposed a wind farm in Nantucket Sound five years
ago, now has been joined in recent weeks by two other proponents of
alternative energy facilities in Cape and Islands waters.

In addition to Massachusetts Tidal, Quincy developer Jay Cashman
also has stepped forward to propose building 90 to 120 turbines in
Buzzards Bay. Mr. Cashman filed an application last week with the
Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act office, which coordinates
responses from state agencies that regulate the proposal.

Cape Wind, meanwhile, has found itself in the role of a federal
political football. A conference committee had approved an amendment on
a $8.7 billion Coast Guard spending that would have given the
Massachusetts governor veto power over such projects.

But the amendment ran into opposition in the House and Senate,
hanging up the Coast Guard bill in the process. Lawmakers now are
considering an amendment that would give the Coast Guard commandant the
final word on such projects.

Massachusetts Tidal has proposed its underwater energy farm in
response to a growing demand for energy in New England, the anticipated
market for the farm's output.

Across the United States, the company claims, the residential demand
for electricity is estimated to rise by 1.8 per cent per year between
2000 and 2020.

"This is an increase in demand of 52 per cent over current
capacity over the next 20 years, representing a market increase of $17
billion per year," the company states in its application.
"This means that due to increased demand, approximately 14
gigawatts of new generating capacity will have to be developed just to
keep pace each year."

If the plan is approved, transmission lines for the tidal energy
farm would intersect an existing underwater cable crossing and come
ashore on the north shore of Vineyard Haven, or in Falmouth, or both.

In its filing, Massachusetts Tidal said the propeller devices and
the transmission lines mostly will be placed on submerged state land in
Vineyard Sound.

In filing for a preliminary permit, the company is launching a
regulatory journey. While the company anticipates a series of project
reviews by federal, state and local agencies and committees, the full
extent of the potential regulatory review is not known.

According to the application, the devices generate power from
natural marine tidal currents and therefore are not dependent on fuel.
"Removing the fuel component, such as the cost of coal in a
traditional power plant, decreases environmental impacts and production
costs tremendously. This form of energy production is essentially
emission-free with no adverse impacts on air quality and minimal
foreseeable adverse environmental impacts overall," the
application states.

The company also states that unlike coastal wind farms that have
drawn criticism for their appearance, the tidal farm is expected to be
placed mostly underwater. Massachusetts Tidal said the designers of the
devices will seek to reduce and avoid potential harm to aquatic
organisms.

The company anticipates spending between $1 million and $4 million
on studies in the first three years of the project.

The company describes the technology for the proposed tidal farm as
emerging and not yet commercially available.